Your shopping cart is empty

Micro-project update (October, 22nd, 2014): Most of our 2014 projects are either complete or nearing completion! However, we are still looking for generous donors who would help us cover the cost of these important efforts. Please consider supporting one of these great local initiatives in Burma and India.

Make your donation via secure PayPall payment. If you are in the Czech Republic, you can also donate using a wire transfer or in cash at our Prague office.

Please click on the topic links below for more information.

For many decades, Burma/Myanmar has been ruled by one of the most brutal military regimes in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people risked their lives to cross the borders in order to escape political prosecution, forced labor and the dismal living conditions in a country that did not give its citizens adequate access to education, healthcare or economic opportunities.

Burmese assault victim in Delhi, March 2010.

However, crossing the border did not often secure the happy ending that the refugees expected. India is not a party to the 1977 Refugee Convention. Burmese refugees therefore find themselves in a legal vacuum, with extremely limited access to support services and unsure about their future. Every day, they face challenges in addressing the most basic needs such as having a roof over their heads, food for their children, education or basic health care. They often experience exploitation in their workplaces. Ethnically motivated violence is a common feature of the Indian experience of many refugees.

Since 2009, Burma Center Prague has been collaborating with Burmese grassroots initiatives in the Indian capital Delhi and in the Indian state of Mizoram, where there are estimated 100,000 Burmese migrants, predominantly from the neighboring Chin state of Burma. Together we try to address the challenges of refugee life.

Burma Center Prague decided to focus on supporting Burmese grassroots organizations run by the refugees themselves because these groups know best what are the biggest issues in their communities and how to address them most effectively. Support for Burmese grassroots initiatives also helps to build the internal capacity of the exile community and encourages refugees to be actively involved in resolving the challenges they face. We find this approach more meaningful than distributing material aid, which is, of course, also needed but which in the long-term can cause a sense of dependency and helplessness for the refugees.

The projects that we support include health care, education, capacity building for local communities with special attention to youth engagement or awareness-raising on issues related to democracy and human rights.

As Burma/Myanmar opened more to the world in recent years, Burma Center Prague was able to extend its work inside the country. In 2013, BCP conducted a pilot round of microgrants in several regions of Burma and in 2014, we have decided to focus on the Chin state in northwestern Burma.

Free Health Care for Refugees

The Chin state is familiar to us in a way, because the majority of the refugees with whom we have collaborated in India since 2009 come from this area. Now, we are able to work in the home state of the refugees and perhaps when the right time comes, we could also support their homecoming.

According to the UNDP, the Chin state is the poorest region in Burma. It is a mountainous area with dilapidated infrastructure, limited employment opportunities and a long history of oppression and exploitation by the Burmese military regime. Many Chin men opted to go abroad in search of employment. Women, children and the elderly remained behind in the villages scattered across valleys and mountains trying to preserve traditional agriculture and small businesses. Child labor is an immense problem in the communities, preventing children from attending schools and thus cutting short their opportunities of a better life in the future. Basic services that should be provided by the government such as health care or education are neglected. The environment is suffering from illegal logging, slash and burn agriculture and landslides on deforested hills.

Luckily, it turns out that the Chin state has many dedicated citizen who are ready to act to counter these challenges. In a short span of time, BCP has formed new exciting partnerships with a range of community-based organizations working on improving the situation of local people. Whether it is in the area of education, youth mobilization for environmental protection or activities aimed at improving awareness of human rights and democratic processes, local activists are willing to invest their time and their own money and are not afraid to face the still powerful central government.

BCP microgrants support these promising initiatives to take off on a larger scale in a more sustainable manner.

The BCP Microgrants are a way of transparently and effectively supporting a range of excellent local initiatives in Burma/Myanmar and among the Burmese refugees in India.

The budget for the microgrants is partly covered by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Transition Promotion Program. However, we could not offer these grants without the generous support of individual donors like you. We have split the microgrants into shares of €20 / US$25*. These shares can be donated by anyone, and there is no limit as to how many shares you can choose. One micro-project can be supported by a group of sponsors, or one person can decide to donate the whole amount and sponsor one microproject all by him or herself. You can join in any time - as long as shares are still available.

In order to collect money for the microgrants, Czech laws require us to arrange that donors are registered beforehand with their name and addresses as members of a club of supporters. Membership will not imply any other obligation than the sponsoring the microproject(s) of your choice. We don't ask for any membership fees and the membership can be canceled at any time.

Your registration will also help us to stay in touch with you. You will receive our quarterly newsletter and a final report about the microproject(s) that you have supported.

Share this Campaign

This project is supported from resources of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic within its Transition Promotion Program.Propagation is supported by our media partner Radio Wave.Learn more about this project.